Namco: "No plan" for Ridge Racer NGP

When Sony unveiled the Next Generation Portable in Tokyo last week, one PlayStation stalwart was conspicuous for its absence: Ridge Racer.

Well, there's a reason: Namco Bandai doesn't have any plan to make one.

"There is no solid plan to make anything in particular for the NGP at the current stage," Ridge Racer 3D game director Masamichi Yamazaki told Eurogamer's Ellie Gibson at a Namco press event in San Francisco this week. "But we are looking into the hardware. If one of our franchises could make for a good game on NGP then we will look into it."

Four-and-a-half years ago, at E3 2006, Sony Computer Entertainment boss Kaz Hirai famously demonstrated the PlayStation Portable on-stage with the immortal quote, "It's Ridge Racer!... Riiiiiiiiiiidge Raaaaaaaaceeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrr!"

He did nothing of the sort last week. Shame.

So, what does Namco think of the NPG?

"NGP is obviously very new hardware and we're all excited about it and a lot of the new cool features," Yamazaki said. "As creators, what we feel passionate about is drawing the power out of each new hardware to bring its strength out, and using that strength to make an entirely new type of game.

"That's what I'm currently excited about investigating with the NGP."

Yamazaki was promoting Ridge Racer 3D, a game that forms part of the Nintendo 3DS launch period line-up. It'll use the 3DS' Street Pass feature to exchange ghost car data and rankings with people you pass on the street.